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£j 1868. 







STATE OF VIRGINIA. 



Office of the European Agent op Immigration, "> 
Richmond, Virginia, December 30, 1867. ) 

The undersigned, European Agent of Immigration for the State ot 
Virginia, for thirty years an inhabitant and citizen of the United States, 
a European by birth, addresses himself in the following lines, chiefly 
to that class of emigrants, who desire by cultivation of the soil or devel- 
opment of mineral resources and manufactures to create for themselves 
an independent home in the New World. Many years of residence and 
experience in this country, joined to extensive travels North, South and 
West, as well as a personal acquaintance with the most prominent men 
in the United States, during that long period, have given him unusual 
and ample opportunities for rigid examination of the capacity of the 
soil, the influence of the climate and the character of the inhabitants 
of the various States now composing the Union. It is, therefore, upon 
the basis of personal experience, that he has undertaken !•» itiauuiirute 
a system of immigration to the State of Virginia, as, in his opinion, 
offering, in every important respect, excellent facilities in soil, climate 
and productions, for the labors of the intelligent and thrifty husband- 
man, mechanic, artisan, miner and manufacturer, and the aceu mil ition 
of wealth. In prosecution ot this plan he will visit the principal Euro- 
pean countries shortly. At this time he proposes merely to give a brief 
outline of the State, as regards her natural divisions, the different soils, 
climates, productions and facilities for transportation, of each district. 

Geographical Position. — Virginia lies between 36° 30' and 40° 3S' 
north latitude, and between 75° 10' and 83° 30' west longitude, being 
about 425 miles in its greatest length from east to west, and d\0 in 
breadth, including an area of about 61,352 square miles, or 39,205,2:30 
acres, only 11,437,821 of which, making a little over one-fourth of the 
whole, were improved in 1860. The cash value of the improved and 
unimproved lands is estimated at $371,761,661 — an estimate which is 
exceeded only by the value of real estate in Illinois, Ohio, New York" 
and Pennsylvania. The boundaries on the north are Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio— on the east, Maryland and the Atlantic oce.iu— on 



the south, North Carolina and Tennessee — on the west, Kentucky and 
Ohio. It is separated from Ohio by the river of the same name — from 
Maryland by the Potomac — and from Kentucky partly by the Cumber- 
land mountains and the Big Sandy river. 

No State in the Union presents a greater variety of surface and climate 
than Virginia — from the mountains of the interior and the rugged hills 
east and west of them to the rich alluvions of the rivers, and the sandy- 
flats on the sea-coast. * The greatest extent of mountains, and the 
greatest variety of timbers are found in this State. White Top moun- 
tain, in Grayson county, attains an elevation of six thousand feet. 

The State is by nature divided into five districts or regions, viz: the 
Low or Tide- Water, the Piedmont, the A r alley, the Alleghanies and the 
Trans- Alleghanies. We will glance at them in their natural order. 

LOW OR TIDE-WATER DISTRICT. 

Thirty-seven counties, mostly bordering on the Atlantic ocean and 
the Chesapeake bay, compose this district. It is generally level, not 
more than sixty feet above tide, even in the highest places. Great 
navigable streams traverse it in a south eastern direction, such as the 
Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James rivers, with a multitude of 
smaller streams. The great slope which forms this district " is divided 
by natural boundaries into no less than twelve principal peninsulas," 
says Gen. Wise, of Virginia, in a recent address, replete with valuable 
information, "The eastern shore of the Chesapeake; that between the 
Potomac and Rappahannock; between Rappahannock and the Pianka- 
tank; between Piankatank and York; the York and the James; the 
Mattaponi and the Pamunkey; the Chickahotniny and the James; the 
Nansemond and Dismal swamp and the ocean; the Nansemond and 
James and the Black water; the Black water and the Nottoway; the 
Nottoway and the Meherrin; the Meherrin and the Roanoke." This 
favored region contains every variety of soil. The Delta of these 
rivers, "in the borders of Virginia, is richer and rarer in every produc- 
tion than the Garden of the Nile. There is nowhere near it any " arida 
nutrix leonum" says General Wise, "and its only quags of swamp, 
even in the Big Dragon of the Piankatank and on the Chickahominy 
and around the ' fire-fly camp' of Drummond lake, are capable of being 
converted into a New Holland by dyke and ditch of 'easy spit and 
drain,' or horticulture of every fruit and vegetable, where drought can 
not parch, and of a temperature milder than that much farther south. 
Vegetation is confined to no one class of plants and trees — and flower 
and fruit, and cereal and staple crops of every variety flourish with a 
beauty and a fullness and a flavor to cheer industry and art with luscious 
plenty at home and a paying profit at the markets of every Eastern city. 
There is a navigable stream at almost every door. There are eligible 
sites on every creek and river in this region, not only for all the more 
common fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, cherries, berries, plums 
and melons, but for the rarer and more delicate fruits, such as grapes, 
figs, pomgranates, apricots, nectarines, Persian cantelopes, strawberries 



and cranberries. According to Prince, there are no sites on the Conti- 
nent so Italy-like for fruits as some of these peninsulas of lowland Vir- 
ginia. The crops of grain and vegetables are still more various, and 
the lands the easiest tilled in the world, with mines of marl and shell, 
and fossils and muck for manure in every part. And it is a great 
mistake to suppose that this section is not equally good for stock raising 
of its kind, and for clothing as well as food. It has the finest ranges 
in its savannahs and salt marshes for small cattle, of the Devon breed, 
and the best for hogs and sheep, and the hardiest blooded horses. The 
ponies of the Chincoteague Island will sell for a higher price than any 
horse in America, proportioned to his girth; and the best racers of the 
two last centuries were foaled from the blood of the south-side of the 
James. Flax and hemp may be grown to any extent; and cotton has 
been grown profitably. Its forests furnish the choicest ship timber, from 
its salt sea atmosphere in thirty miles of the coast. Its Hampton Roads 
is the largest harbor of the continent, to which the Eastern rivers con- 
verge from every point of the compass for commerce. And, every- 
where, on land and water, Nature has provided a meat-house of fishe- 
ries and game, venison, wild turkey, quails and woodcock, rabbits, 
squirrels, robins, sora. reed birds, shell fish, scale fish, terrapins, turtles, 
swans, wild geese, brant and wild ducks, and plover innumerable, and 
indestructible. The salubrity "of its climate," says General Wise, 
" will compare with that, of any other region, since drainage and liming 
of the lands began to remove the causes of malarial fevers, chiefly at 
the points where the tides of salt water meet the currents of the fresh 
water at the rivers." 

The entire region is favorable to the growth of the finest kinds of 
tobacco, offering great inducements for the settlement of growers from 
the various portions of European tobacco regions. There is no reason 
why the finest Cuban tobaccos should not grow here, and with the now 
spreading cultivation of the Latakia tobacco plant, brought by Bayard 
Taylor from Palestine, and successfully introduced already by him in 
Pennsylvania, a great future is opened for this staple in Virginia Mr. 
Taylor thinks this variety incomparably better than the finest Vara or 
Cuba ever grown, and states that it does not deteriorate by being trans 
planted, but retains perfectly all its delicious characteristics. 

Market gardeners near Norfolk cultivate early vegetables for the mar- 
kets of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, having their produce 
ripening from three to four weeks earlier than in those more Northern 
latitudes. They have been known, on from five to ten acres in culti- 
vation, to make per annum from $2,500 to $5,000 clear piofit. By the 
Anamessic lineof railroad, which now in thirteen hours travel, connects 
the city of Norfolk with the metropolis of New York, market gardeners 
and fanners on the lower Chesapeake bay, especially those who live in 
Accomac and Northampton counties may directly, and those of Princess 
Anne, Norfolk, York, Gloucester, Matthews, Middlesex, Lancaster and 
Northumberland may, by means of their own little schooners, in one 
night's travel across the bay, offer their produce for sale within twenty- 



four hours in the best market on the American continent. The fisheries 
on these coasts are world -renowned. On the whole line of the counties 
above enumerated, fish-manure can be abundantly obtained for the labor 
of carrying it away. Wheat and other cereals flourish. During the 
war, in this section, after the Northern armies and fleets had destroyed 
everything, the inhabitants felt no apprehension on the score of living 
they could find fishand oysters and wild ducks everywhere and in plenty 
In Nansemond county in the celebrated Dismal Swamp, peat has been 
discovered. It is now being cut, molded and shipped to the Northern 
cities and found to be extremely profitable. By allowing one hundred 
inhabitants to the square mile, and giving sixty acres as a homestead to 
each family, the lowlands of Virginia can maintain a population of one 
million six hundred thousand souls. 

PIEDMONT DISTRICT. 

"At the foot of the mountains, " stretching away to where the navi- 
gation of the rivers, which traverse the lowlands, ceases, a region, em- 
bracing thirty-two counties, lies, more diversified in surface than the 
lowlands — and, of course, more elevated, with a genial and healthful 
climate. Here are found the greatest inducements for the erection of 
manufacturing establishments — natural water power being everywhere 
abundantly at command. This land is the " Piedmont of Virginia," 
" like the vinous land of Italy, though not so naked," as General Wise 
says, " for hill and dale, and gr<»ve and meadow, for lawns and orchards, 
and mountain spires, and undulating surface of waving wheat fields 
and greenswards, and buoyant springs and sparkling fountains, and 
bracing air — it surpasses all classic lauds of Arcadia." It is divided by 
the James into North and South Piedmont, from the Point of Rocks to 
Lynchburg, and from Lynch bu/g to the North Carolina line. The 
difference in these two divisions of the Piedmont is attributable more 
to the difference in the past habits of cultivating the two than to any 
great variation of climate or soil. Though one is farther north, yet the 
climate of each is much the same as that of the other, both being nearly 
affected by a mountain atmosphere. The Northern has the stiffest 
clay, and cultivates wheat and corn and artificial grasses and raises live 
stock; the Southern cultivates mostly tobacco and corn, though wheat 
also largely, and grazes but little. Both are beautiful, and fertile and 
fit lot farming, capable of the highest cultivation; are cool and bracing 
hi, temperature, and blessed with health. This district has an area of 
10,UU0 square miles, and is capable of maintaining a population of 
one million souls. It is not generally a lime land, but portions of it 
are very rich, i. e., Loudoun, Fauquier, Albemarle and Bedford counties. 
The tobacco which is raised in the Southern section of Piedmont, 
south of 38°, is known as shipping tobacco. The fine tobacco counties 
in this section are Albemarle, Henry, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Campbell, 
&c. 

Before we reach the third principal region of Virginia we must cross 
the Blue Ridge, where we find still some of the most beautiful forests 



of America and an atmosphere of surpassing salubrity. The nroduc 
tions of this magnificent mountain-belt are similar to to those regions on 
its sides. Waving wheat fields and pastures; charming valleys with 
grazing cattle and hardy husbandmen may everywhere be met Vine 
yards are everywhere springing up, and its honey finds now and its 
wine will soon find a market in the world. To the sturdy emigrar t 
this ridge ofiers still thousands of acres of virgin lands, and nowhere 
in all America will he have nature's assurance of a long life so plainly 
indicated as here. This ridge alone contains at least 2,000 L are 
miles, or 1,280,000 acres, enough to divide into 6,400 forms of 200 
acres each and to support a population of 50,000 more than it has now. 



VALLEY DISTRICT. 



Crossing he Blue Ridge mountains, we come to the celebrated Valley 
of Virginia (Shenandoah and South Branch), not only renowned for the 
m n& lts , sol, - 8 3 000 square miles in area and capable of support „g 
800JW0 people; but for the splendid characteristics of its inhabitant- 
English, Germans, Scotch, Irish, now intermixed in one brave race-a 
race which dunng the late war,earned world- wide renown in the « Stone* 
wall Brigade," under their immortal leadar, "Stonewall" Jackson a 
continuation of the fruitful Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania ' k 
stretches between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountain? he entire 
length of Virginia obliquely from north-east to south-west, nearly three 
hundred miles, and is from twenty-five to thirty miles wide. pSmsS 
the finest grazing country in the world, and having throughout a hi e 
stone foundation, its lands yield, from twenty to forty bus ? e t of wheat- 
and from forty to fifty bushels of Indian corn, is by no means an ex to' 
ordinary crop. Had the Confederacy been successful if5XS£K 
valley, her armies could have been maintained from its produced an 

r^T T l " T i at Val ' ey '" Says General VVise/^ha aleady 
ZtreZt lt 3° Ver ^ so f- s ' -pulchres, and is bravely ren wrn| 

vllfherarms Sh*V?7 ^p her neighbors with alms as she did 
witn tier arms. She is indestructible in resources of wealth and nower- 
her strength is founded on her everlasting limestone rocl " To P show 

he remarkab e permanency of its fertility we cite the following fiX a 

cond onof he c? IT"* i?^*' in his Pavels, descilbes he 
condition of the Germans on the Shenandoah, as follows- "1 could 
no but reflect with pleasure on the situation of 'these peop7e',and th nk 
if there is such a thing as happiness in this life that they eniovit Far 
rom the bustle of the world, they live in the mo tdehS climate 
Sitfffi 681 SmI mia S inab,e ; they are everywhere surrounded with 

strean s U Va P lTlfw ?* -f ^i ""*** ^ ^untainsT^anspaTeLt 

streams, falls of water, rich valleys and majestic woods- the whole 

EKSSIL^^^ T Gty ° f fl r e "°^ «nrubs,^nsStut"he 
idiiascapc surrounding them; they are subject to few diseases- are -en 
erally robust, and live in perfect liberty; they are ignorant of want fnd 

precludes any regret that they possess not the means of enjoyTng then • 



but they possess what many princes would give their dominions for — 
health, content, and tranquility of mind."* Seventy years later, Bern- 
hard, Duke of Saxe- Weimar, says of this valley: "The country was 
pretty well cultivated, and by the exterior of many country houses, we 
were induced to believe their inhabitants enjoyed plenty. "f Daniel 
Webster, twenty years after this, in a public oration in the Shenandoah 
Valley, said "that he had seen no finer farming land in his European 
travels than in that valley." Still twenty years later, and the Northern 
troops when they entered it victoriously, after its great defender Stone- 
wall Jackson had fallen, exclaimed : "Here is a second Canaan, let 
us rest here and pitch our tents." What gives particular interest to this 
valley and to the Blue Ridge to the European emigrant is the fact that 
there have never been many negroes within them — at this day the land is 
cultivated almost entirely by white laborers. 

THE ALLEGHANIES. 

Beyond this valley westward rise the Alleghanies. Their range runs 
north-east and south-west 250 miles, by 50 miles of average width — 
making of mountains, valleys and dales, 14,500 square miles. Besides 
their aspect of rocks, ridges, caves, valleys, slopes, healing springs, 
streams, fountains, they present to the eye a most luxuriant indigenous 
verdure of blue grass spread over forests and fields, which offer grazing 
to the live stock on Nature's pastures without a cost of clearing or cul- 
tivation. North of the High Knob and Haystack there are no negroes. 
And the whole region of these mountains abounds in minerals of every 
description, which wait for the capital to develop them. Wheat, rye, 
oats and other grain, and the fruits of Northern latitudes grow luxu- 
riantly everywheie in the valleys, dales, plateaus and other slopes of 
these ragged mountains, and offer a most inviting home to a Swiss, a 
Scotch, a Sweed, a Norwegian, &c. There is room enough in these 
mountains for one million two hundred thousand immigrants, of every 
kind of occupation. 

TRANS-ALLEGHANY DISTRICT. 

This district, comprising forty-nine counties, sparsely settled, moun- 
tainous and hilly throughout, interspersed with rich valleys, dales and 
plateaus, celebrated for its mineral wealth, oil and healing waters, con- 
stitutes now the State of West Virginia. It comprises about 15,000 
square miles. 

Productions. — Although the general productions of Virginia have been 
mentioned in the preceding lines, we desire to give some definite infor- 
mation with respect to the amounts of each staple. No later material is 
in existence for this purpose than the United States census taken June 
1 , 1860. The present capacity of production of the soil of this State is 
not determined by any decrease of its fertility, as some pretend; i. 

* Campbell's History of Virginia, page 500. 

t Travels through North America, Vol. I, page 183. 



9 

Virginia produced leys in 1867 than she did in 1859, it is owing simply 
to the effects of the late long war and the decrease in the number and 
efficiency of her laboring population. We have no exact data at hand 
to tell us how much was raised this or the past year; but we have 
before us, a Report from the United States Bureau of Agriculture of 
December 1866, showing how much tobacco was produced in 1866, viz : 
95,000,000 pounds and as the crop was in 1859, 123,96S 312 pounds, 
there is a falling off of about one-fourth. Taking the above as our 
guide in regard to all other products, we may, with tolerable certainty, 
ascertain the productions of the present year. We now proceed to 
state the relative position of Virginia to the other States in her principal 
staples: the numbers in brackets showing the respective rank she holds 
in the article among forty-one States and Territories of the Union; a 
careful consideration of the following figures is requested, as furnishing 
probaMy the best answer to the question, whether the soil of Virginia is 
exhausted or not : 

(Attention is called also to the fact that the quantities of produce ot 
all kinds represented by the figures not bracketed, come from about 
one-fourth part of her lands— three-fourth parts thereof not being under 
cultivation.) 

Bushels— 13, V30, 977 wheat [5]— 38,319,999 Indian corn [8]— 944,- 
3c0 rye [6]— 10, 186,720 oats [6]— 6S,846 barley [16]— 478,090 buck- 
wheat [t>] — 515, lo8 peas and beans [8] — 2,292,398 Irish potatoes [15] 
—1,960,817 sweet potatoes [8J— 32,691 flax seed [4]— 36,962 clover 
seed [9]— 53,063 grass seed [9. J Pounds: 123,968,312 tobacco [1]— 
13,464,722 butterf9T— 280,852 cheese [In]— 2,510,019 wool [8]— 487,- 
808 flax [4]— 5,090,800 cott»n [1 2]— 8,225 rice [12]— 10,024 hops [1 1] 
—938,103 sugar [10]— 1,500,000 honey [6 ] Gallons: 320,875 molasses 
—41,808 wine. Tons:— 445,133 hay— 15 hemp. Head: 287,579 
horses [16J — 41,015 a>ses and mules [11] — 97,872 working oxen [8] — 
330,713 milch cows [8]— 615,882 other cattle |9]— 1,043,269 sheep [6] 
—1.599,919 swine [10]. Values .-—farms $371 ,761 ,661 [5]- live stock 
$47,803,049 [8]— farming implements $,9,392,296 [7]— slaughtered 
animals $11,491,027, [7] — home-made manufactures $1,576,627 [5] — 
orchard products $800,650 — market gardens $589,467, &c. &c. 

4 

Farms— How Divided, Sfc, in Virginia. — The cultivated land is 
divided into farms, as follows: 

2,351 farms of 3 and under 10 acres. 

5,565 farms of 10 and under 20 acres. 
19,584 farms of 20 and under 50 acres. 
21 ,145 farms of 50 and under 100 acres. 
34,300 farms of 100 and under 500 acres. 

2,882 farms of 500 and under 1,000 acres. 
641 farms of 1,000 acres and over. 



86,468 farms m all. 



10 

The 3,500 large tracts being under cultivation— parts of which are 
now ,„ the mapke,, | le RCa , tPrHd OVer the pnfi|e SfR{e TJ 

some nnblK lands in Virginia, hut the loral land offices have Ion- since 
b«en closed, and there are at this time none for sale. We have seen 
hew, ver Hint barely one-frurth of the State is rnl.ivated,the remainder 
still heme Winn - il. The residents are n. w vv. rking but one-half 
in i. am mM»tires loss than on, -half, i.f what they did in I860 Good 
lands lying idle, logeth, r with lb se that have never been cleared can 
be purchased at bom two to twenty dollars per acre on part payment 
and On nedit, or rent, d, or leased f r a term of years on the most ad- 
vantage, us terms, and for low prices or on shares. 

Yiieinia ran with rott/if/enre repose upon her generous soil and salu- 
bnr lis • Im.aie. Her present political I roubles are but temporary, and 
need in ..» way aflecl the immigrant. They are being rapidly dispersed 
by the Minshiue nj a briybtly dawning future. We' have already wel- 
comed people Irom the Northern and Southern sections of our Union 
wno have made here permanent nomes, and have received the North- 
erner in the same spirit of kindness with which we provided a home 
tor the exiled Poles in Spotsylvania county last year. 

Much remains to be said of her mineral resources, her growing and 
extending manufactures, all inviting alike the energy and capital of the 
woild. Of the advantages she offers over the other States of the Union, 
north, south, west, &o., only a few additional remarks can be made 
W hen this .Agency is permanently established in Kurope, thorough inf ta- 
rnation, leaving nothing unstated, will he placed at the command of 
the formers, laborers, mechanics, merchants and capitalists of the world. 

First, then, in regard to the mineral wealth of the State; very little 
is known abroad how inexhaustible, how scarcely touched it is. The 
list of mineral treasures includes gold, copper, iron, lead, plumbago, 
coal, salt, gypsum (in vast beds), porcelain clay, fine granite, slate, 
marble, soapstone, lime, water-lime, umber and fire-ciay. The ore of 
Manassas Gap mine, Fauquier county, seventy miles from Alexandria, 
yields seventy-five per cent, of pure copper. But the greatest sources 
of wealth in this State are her homelier minerals, coal and iron." 
(lAppmcoWs Gazetteer.) They are faind in the entire extent of the 
Blue Ridge and the Alleghatiies. In South- Western Virginia, in the 
county of Montgomery, coal and iron are found in such juxtaposition, 
as to make the inarmfa* tilling of iron, exceedingly profitable. Here is a 
vastfield lor European enterprise and capital. In Chesterfield county 
are the most valuable coal mines, extending over the entire county, 
which have been for years worked most successfully, and supply 
Richmond, Petersburg and the entire surrounding country and the 
Northern demand. In Wythe county, in South- Western Virginia, are 
lead mines, apparently inexhaustible, which for the last two years of 
the \vnv,alo/te supplied the Confederate armies, yielding 150,000 pounds 
per month, as is stated by Col. W. Leroy Brown, the Chief of Ordnance 



11 

of the Confederate Army. The mineral springs of tin's noble State are 
anion? the wonders of the world. Settlements all around them are 
practicable, and would be quite remunerative — numbers of visiters 
from all parts of the United States congregating: there annually. Pe- 
troleum springs are, also, found; but this branch of industry, as all 
others in the State, is yet undeveloped. There are vast marl deposits — 
very valuable in the restoration of laud — in the counties of King. William, 
King & Queen, New Kent, Hanover, James City, &c. It is a fact 
that these deposits exist in many places in these counties, within a (ew 
inches of the surface. 

As regards the real advantages of Virginia over the other States of 
the Union, the>j have been stated impartially in an address of the Colony 
of New Poland to their countrymen in Europe, dated August 'iT, 1867. 
In the resolutions ad >pted by these colonists occurs the following: 
"The congeniality of its climate with our constitution; the ascertained 
productiveness of its lands, and its adaptation to a greater variety of 
Crops than is the land of the North- Western States and Territories; the 
hospitality of its people, and t*te consideration that its local laws extend 
the same political rights and ecpial protection to the native and natural- 
ized citizens and to all religious creeds, in connection with the man's 
natural disposition to go there in search of the means of living and 
competency for his family, where their acquisition is easier and more 
probable, were our only guides in selecting Virginia as our adopted 
State. We assert now upon ihe evidence of our own personal expe- 
rience, acquired since we settled here, that the denial of the existence 
of these advantages, and better chances of su'*eess in Virginia, which 
can make an agriculturist independent and contented, must be attributed 
either to gross ignorance of the letter writers or to some ill and malicious 
design " "That, the quality of our cleared land is inferior to the newly- 
cleared land at the North- West is admitted, but its inferiority is only its 
exhaustion, caused by bad cultivation; it can, therefore, he i o proved 
at le*s labor and expense, and in shorter time than the clearing of North- 
Western lands requires. As to our woodland soil, it is not inferior to 
the North Western." "Here in Virginia, the winters being shorter 
and milder, we have in the year four months' longer working season." 
"And in this State the typhoid and typhus fevers attach to no section, 
and are almost unknown, whilst in t m new North- Western settlements 
they destroy prematurely thousands of lives every year." k - We desire 
to inform our countrymen in Europe th it in the selection f Virginia 
for our adopted State we were influenced only by the foregoing consi- 
derations of advantages." 

Internal Communications. — Internal communications in Virginia and 
facilities for sending of produce to the great markets at her very do >rs, 
are not inferior to those in the Atlantic States; superior to all of the 
more recent Western Stales, ami tin equalled by any of the States 
South. From Virginia the traveler may procead to all parts of the 



12 

Union by railroads; and direct lines to the West to connect the harbor 
of Norfolk with Cincinnati are in contemplation and progress of execu- 
tion at this time. The railroad, known as the Virginia Central, pene- 
trating the entire breadth of the State, is to be extended from Covington, 
Va., through West Virginia, thence to the mouth of the Big Sandy river, 
on the Ohio, to the city of Cincinnati, the whole route being about 690 
miles in length. The establishment of this great thoroughfare appears 
no longer a matter of doubt, and its importance to all Virginia cannot 
be over estimated. Another road to go through. Kentucky (an extension 
of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad) is in contemplation, to connect 
Norfolk with Cairo and Louisville, Kentucky, and Hickman and Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. Ol the harbor of Norfolk, Mr Robert W. Hughes, 
the President of this proposed road,sreaks pointedly that "it possesses 
over all Northern seaports the advantage of beins nearer by overland 
route to the centres of Western trade; and o\erall Southern seaports 
the advantage of being nearer by the ocean route to all European ports." 
Lieutenant Maury, the greatest authority in such matters, is quoted by 
Mr. Hughes in regard to Norfolk as follows: "As to natural advantages 
of position, depth of water and accessibility by land and sea Norfolk 
has no competitor among the seaport towns of the Atlantic. Its climate 
is delightful and it is exactly of that happy middle temperature where 
the frosts of the North bite not, and wheic the pestilence of the South 
walketh not."' There were, m Virginia, in I860, 1,771 miles of rail- 
road, constructed at a cost of $64,959,807. Nor has Virginia been 
behindhand in the construction of canals and river improvements. The 
Chesapeake and Ohio, the Alexandria, the James River and Kanawha, 
the Dismal Swamp and the Albemaile and Chesapeake canals constitute 
a length of line of 381^ miles. The Potomac is navigable for the 
largest ships to Alexandria, one hundred miles from the Chesapeake 
bay, which latter is daily whitened by hundreds of sail; the Rappa- 
hannock to Fredericksburg for vessels of 140 tons; the York and its 
branches to Yorktown, forty miles for large ships; the. James to Rich- 
mond, and the Appomattox to Petersburg for vessels of 100 tons In 
many parts of the Slate are '-turnpikes;" innumerable smaller roads 
traverse every county, and if they are not quite as passable as similar 
loads in Europe, there are none worse than some we may see at the 
present day in France and Germany. 

Inhabitants. — Virginia is among the seven States which were migra- 
tive in 1850, and have since changed to be receiving States; since the 
war, as already said, people, from both \ th and south of her, are 
immigrating. The population in 1860 was composed of 1,047,299 
white, 58,0.12 fieo colored, 490,865 slaves, and 112 Indians, together 
amounting to 1,596,318. There wen; among the white popu/ation 
35,058 foreigners, of which 5,490 were Scotch and English, 10,512 
German, 16,501 Irish, 571 French, &c. &c. Among the cities of over 
5,000 inhabitants are: 



13 

Richmond, with 37,1>10 inhabitants, including 0,358 foreigners. 

Petersburg, " 18,266 " " 744 " 

Norfolk, " 14,620 << « 1,971 « 

Alexandria, " 12,654 " " 1,246 *1 

Lynchburg, " 6,S53 » " 657 

Fredericksburg, " 5,023 « " 234 <* 

Emigrants coining to Virginia will, therefore, not be as isolated as it 
other Southern States south of Virginia, and representatives fron 
nearly every nationality on the globe may be found here. 

Character of People. — The character of Virginians stands deservedjj 
high in all parts of the Union. Their most distinguished traits ah 
hospitality and conservative sentiments betokening a stable population 
not easily drawn into revolution, except for self-preservation. In a! 
momentous periods of the history of the State this characteristic ha' 
been manifested: as a colony, when Virginia opposed the Protectorate 
under Cromwell, inviolately preserving her loyalty- to the King; he 
commendable patience in remonstrating against the oppressive course o 
the mother-country anterior to the revolutionary war, and finally whet 
she held aloof, for a long time, from the Southern Secession movement 
and only joined her Sister States when ail remostrances had been it 
vain, and the United States had called upon 75,000 volunteers to invadi 
the Southern Territories. The participation of Virginia in the wa 
was a defence of what she regaided the imperishable principles under 
lying the American Constitution. The thought to perpetuate Alricar 
slavery was foreign to Virginians and had no influence in their determi 
nation to combat northern encroachments. When despite the harrier: 
which the inherited institution of slavery had naturally created agains 
immigration, they saw the slaves in the frontier States gradually fbrce( 
southward by the influx of a superior race of white farmers and laborers 
they would have been blind to make war upon any such foundation 
On the contrary, the wise men of Virginia saw what was inevitable anc 
ardently desired the peaceful and gradual abolition of African slavery 
Northern agitation, unhappily', prevented this desirable consummation 
and through blood and ruin was attained what might have been securer 
by moderation and patience. Virginia can hold up her hands and shovi 
them to be clean of guilt. The race of negroes which it was the desin 
of the North to benefit by emancipation, is threatened with totA'l tie 
struction instead of it. If it be true, what Gen. Howard of the freed 
men's bureau states to be an official ft^t, that, since the war one- foil nl 
of the negroes have disappeared — what a ui"tiriiful destiny awaits ttia 
unfortunate race; tenfold more terrible, rapid and certain than the dis 
appearance of the native sons of America from the soil of their fathers 

Whatever sufferings have been Virginia's lot, these broad facts stan,< 
prominently before us: she has still a leitile soil, an incomparable cli 
mate, her manifold productions, natural riches, and a white population 



14 



neither too proud nor afraid to work their lands, with their own hands. 
Her future is. then, full of promise. Unable to devel-pe their mineral 
resources and fe cultivate farms as large with their unaided strength. 
as when over 400,U«>0 laborers were at their disposal, the land owners 
of Virginia offer a part of it to the industrious European working irmrn- 
giantsand capitalists. By .loins so they aid the State and themselves, 
and benefit the purchasers: the transaction Is for the mutual advantage. 
Bv disposing oi a part of their soil— nracWfe and mineral— at a sac 
rifice (considering- the value of YjrKiiiia lauds previous to the war) 
thev desire to secure for it skilful and thrifty settlers and laborers from 
abroad— to conler upon then: all the benefits and righto they themselves 
enjoy Thev wish future white citizms—^ud with their joined efforts 
thev tee! assured of being able to raise the State of Virginia to a height 
of prosperity it has never before attained. The foreign population o! 
Virginia has always received a kind welcome from the State, now, 
more than' ever, will thev be received as friends and equals. That 
sue!)' will be the case, the undersigned assures them through an expe- 
rience of now fifteen years among Virginians; 

Simultaneously with the undersigned European Agent of Immigra- 
tion for Virginia— the State Board ^ Immigration appointed Gen. J. D. 
tmboden and Col Roger I. Pago, its Domestic ageuts-who are coope- 
rating with the agency of the undersigned. Under- the arrangement oi 
these" two agencies, Europeans desiring to immigrate to Virginia .can 
secure for themselves homesteads and employments in every blanch oi 
industry before they leave Europe-and every facility for crossing the 
Atlantic will be secured ami offered them. On their arrival at the 1 or s 
of V rginia they will be received by the Domestic agents of the Stat* 
and bv them directed to then- new hOmes^alreMy selected or such as 
they may select on reaching the shores of Virginia, Any further m or- 
mation If required, will be furnished in the language in which the letter 
o en v Ly be addressed to the undei.gu.d-^ £""«£ 
juchmoiicl, Virginia; until fuller ftotlwi i»e g,ven_where m Europe the 
Signed has established his offices-at which he w.l receive per- 
sonally^ by his assistants all inquiries written and verbal and furnish 
desired informal! .fas. . ^ T00HMAN> 

European $ghnt of Immigration for Virginia. 

IJmthd Statk's of America: 

State of Virginia 3 to wit: 
Where vs by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia passed the 
third dau of March, Wfio, entitled -An act t> prompt and encourage 
immiR«MOi into the Stale of Virginia," the undersigned have beer, 
dulva 8 ppoit ed a Board of Immigration for the Sta.e-aud ,t is made 
,!' "the Hoard to settle upon and carry utfo operation a prac- 
tcal pan for the introduction of sober and industrious emigrants iciin 
their fdntilils from Europe into this State; to open correspondence with 



15 

immigration agencies and steamship companies in Europe; to cause to 
be published such information as will fully show the datura! resources 
of the State— its soil, climate and mineral wealth and pr ductkms — and 
also the demand for labor, and the inducements which Virginia offers 
as a home to the emigrant'] to cause correct and accurate intelligence to 
be furnished to emigrants desiring t<> remove to thfs conntiy; to aid 
and assist them, as far as possible, in their removal to this State; to 
make suitable arrangements to receive immigrants upon their arrival, 
and transport them to their destination or place of employment; and 
generally to adopt, establish and organize such plans and mi 
will tend to secure or facilitate the introduction of foreign lal 
State." 

And, whereas, in order to carry into effect the provisions 
of the said recited act of Assembly it is deemed expedient iu uppt.mii 
Agents of unquestioned character and qualifications to represent the 
State in Kurope, and to make known to such persons as may desire to 
emigrate to Virginia the advantages which may be readily and cheaply 
obtained here, and the Board being assured of the just title of General 
G. Toe h man and B. Johnson Bakbour, Esq., to the confidence and 
respect of the State, have constituted and appointed and do hereby 
constitute and appoint the said General G. Tochman and B. Johnson 
Barbour, Ksq., Agents f »r the State, to proceed to Europe, and there to 
communicate and make known the advantages offered to emigrants to 
this State, by its dimate,,soil, productions, access to maikets, cheapness 
of land and other considerations and advantages, of which they are 
accurately informed, and which the Board has entire confidence that 
they will truly and faithfully represent. 

And for the protection, security and convenience of such emigrants 
as by the information and agency of Gen. Tochman and Mr. Barbour 
may come to the State of Virginia, General J. D Imboden and Colonel 
Roger I. Page are hereby appointed Domestic Agents in Virginia, to 
receive the said emigrants upon their arrival and forward them to such 
places of destination within the State as they may desire. And the 
said Imboden and Page are required to report from time to time as they 
may arrive, a descriptive list of all such emigrants to the Commissioner 
of Immigration for the State, who shall lay the same before the Board. 

This letter of appointment is not intended to authorize, and does not 
authorize the creation of any pecuniary liability, expense or obligation 
on the part of the State or the Board. 

In testimony whereof we hereunto sign our names, this 9th day of 
August, lb67 ; at Richmond, in the State of Virginia. 

THOMAS J. RANDOLPH, 

R. B. HAXALL, 

VVM. H. MACFARLAND. 

By the Board, 

W. H. RICHARDSON, 

Commissioner of Immigration. 



lb 

Virginia: 

I. Francis II. I'kiui'oint, Governor of the State of Virginia, do 
by certify that 'j'hoinas Jefferson Randolph, K. Barton Ilaxall and 
W. Hamilton Maclarlaud, whose names are subscribed to the annexed 
document*, were at the lime of subscribing the same, and now are, the 
Board oi Immigration for the State of Virginia, duly appointed according 
to law, and that William II. Richards -n, whose name is also subscribed 
to the .said document, was at the time of subscribing the same, and now 
is, Commissioner of Immigration, duly appointed by the said 13 >ard, as 
is by law required, and that to all the official acts of the said Board and 
Commission.'!- of Immigration full faith, credit and authority are due 
and oughl to be given. 

In testimony whereof, 1 have hereunto set my hand as 

Governor, and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed. 

§SfflT»ll" D'Uie at the city of Richmond, this 14th day of November, 

\fegs2pJ? A I) 1S67, and in the ninety-second year of the Common- 

** wealth. 

F. H. PEIRPOINT. 
By the Governor, 
J. M. HERNDON, 

Secretary of the Commonwealth and Keeper of the Seals. 

For the information of emigrants we state here that, by reason of 
mutual agreement with Mr. Barbour, made with the consent of the 
Board of Immigration, the organization of sub-agencies and the arrange- 
ments to facilitate the transportation of emigrants across the Atlantic 
will be attended to, in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, 
exclusively by the undersigned, G. Tochrnan, and with him alone the 
undersigned Domestic Agents are cooperating. 

G. TOCHMAN, 

European Agent of Virginia. 

J. D. IMBODEN, 
ROGER I. PAGE, 
Dothcstic Agents of Virginia. 



